Deracination: Historiocity, Hiroshima, and the Tragic Imperative (Suny Series in Psychoanalysis and Culture)

Through a critique of history—as a reality, a discipline, and a way of writing—Deracination challenges the basic theoretical tenets of both humanism and postmodernism. As a discipline, history is currently undergoing what Heidegger would call a productive “crisis," and a number of thinkers, including Michel Foucault, Hayden White, Paul Ricoeur, and Stephen Greenblatt, have begun to reexamine the cognitive assumptions and narrative paradigms that inform the discipline. This book radicalizes such developments in order to construct both a new theory of history as well as a new concept of how histories should be written. To make the interrogation concrete, the book focuses on Hiroshima and the ways in which the trauma of that event has been repressed by the discourses that historians have fashioned in order to “explain” what happened on August 6, 1945. The Way To Hiroshima -- Only Connect: Trauma In/and History -- The Concept Of Crisis And A Hermeneutics Of Engagement -- Only Connect: Why Hiroshima? -- Fact-document -- Explanation -- Subjectivity And History -- Disciplinarity -- Inhumanity Has No/a History: Basil Ii Bulgaroktonos Vivant -- On Psychoanalytic Method: No Return To Freud -- Engaging The Audience: Agonistic Intersubjectivity -- Only Connect: Immanence--the Existentializing Process -- Cutting Back Into Life -- History As Hermeneutic Of Engagement -- Internalization And Bad Faith: The Disorder Called The Ego -- Authentic Internalization: The Birth Of Psyche -- Internalization And History -- Language, Discourse ( -communities), The Problem Of Style -- Horror, As Exemplar -- A Modest Proposal -- The Sublime And The Kantian Ratio, Or, How The White Man Thinks -- The Critical Philosophy At Issue -- Affect And Attunement -- Deracination As Concrete Deconstruction -- Reading As Interrogation--kant's Critique Of Judgment, Sections 23-29 -- Beyond The Beautiful: From Pleasure To Desire -- Frameworks: Opposed -- Purposiveness: And The Contrapurposive -- Affect And Attunement In Depth: Inwardness Versus The Ratio -- From Ambivalence Toward The Object To Intimations Of The Bomb -- The Psyche In/and History -- The Scientific Imagination: Kant As Romantic Poet -- Reason And The Bomb -- The Collective Subject Of History And The Scientific Imagination -- The Triumph Of Mathematics -- Toward The Dynamic Sublime: The Defeat Of Mathematics. Walter A. Davis. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 243-292) And Index.

as A Discipline, History Is Currently Undergoing What Heidegger Would Call A Productive Crisis, And A Number Of Thinkers, Including Michel Foucault, Hayden White, Paul Ricoeur, And Stephen Greenblatt, Have Begun To Reexamine The Cognitive Assumptions And Narrative Paradigms That Inform The Discipline. This Book Radicalizes Such Developments In Order To Construct Both A New Theory Of History As Well As A New Concept Of How Histories Should Be Written. To Make The Interrogation Concrete, The Book Focuses On Hiroshima And The Ways In Which The Trauma Of That Event Has Been Repressed By The Discourses That Historians Have Fashioned In Order To Explain What Happened On August 6, 1945.

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using Hiroshima As A Concrete Example Of The Ways Historians Have Repressed Reality In Order To Explain Events, Davis (english, Ohio State U.) Challenges The Basic Theoretical Underpinnings Of Both Humanism And Postmodernism, And In The Process Offers A New Theory Of The Tragic As Well As A New Concept Of How History Should Be Written. His New Theory Depends On Existential Thinking And Is Grounded In Psychoanalytic Inquiry, And He Ultimately Argues That History Contains The Power To Lead Us To A New Theory Of The Psyche. Annotation C. Book News, Inc., Portland, Or (booknews.com)